In the Tigers’ shocking 44-16 defeat of Nick Saban’s No. 1 Crimson Tide in U.S. college football’s national championship game in Santa Clara, Calif., the 19-year-old Lawrence was simply spectacular. He completed 20-of-32 for 347 yards, three touchdowns, no interceptions and averaged 10.9 yards per attempt.

That’s all outstanding, especially in a championship game against a normally stingy Saban-coached defence.

But the long-haired, 6-foot-5, 205-pounder from Cartersville, Ga., was at his best on third downs — a bellwether measure for any passer, at any level.

After missing his first third-down throw on the game’s opening drive, here’s how Alexander did on third downs until he and the Tigers had put the game far out of reach by the end of the third quarter:

complete, for 62 yards

incomplete

complete, 14 yards

complete, five yards

complete, 26 yards

incomplete

complete, 74 yards, touchdown

complete, 37 yards

complete, 17 yards

complete, five yards, touchdown.

All told then, when the game was competitive over the first three quarters, Alexander hit on 8-of-11 on third down for 240 yards and two touchdowns.

Simply incredible.

Gil Brandt for the past six decades has been one of the NFL’s shrewdest, best-connected talent evaluators. On Tuesday afternoon he tweeted the following:

“Trevor Lawrence is the best true freshman QB I’ve ever seen. If I was running an NFL team, I’d be making trades for as many 2021 picks (as) I could get my hands on.”

Wow.

See, Lawrence can’t play in the NFL (or CFL, for that matter) until 2021. In conjunction with the NFL Players Association, as part of their collective bargaining agreements going back decades, the NFL will not draft or sign any player, no matter how promising, until he’s three years out of high school.

Meaning Lawrence can’t be drafted into the NFL until April 2021, after two more college seasons.

Asked by a follower where Lawrence would be drafted if he could come out of the college ranks now, Brandt tweeted, simply, “1.”

What about the 6,001 new pro football leagues set to begin play this year or next? (Yes, that total is a slight exaggeration).

A spokesperson for the XFL told ProFootballTalk.com that it is “not restricted by the rules that exist in other professional football leagues.”

But remember, the true meaning of most public statements is in what that they don’t say when given the chance. So until the XFL announces it will permit its teams to sign players only one or two years out of university, don’t bother speculating.

Lawrence seems like a smart teen who’s beyond his years in terms of maturity. For what it’s worth if, like me, you’re of an age, the kid is a dead-ringer for 1970s-era, pre-moustache, power guitarist Joe Walsh — of Eagles, James Gang and solo-career fame.

Lawrence sure can play quarterback now like Walsh could a Les Paul in the Seventies.

Life’s been good to Lawrence so far. Let’s hope he doesn’t change after all he’ll go through over the next 48 months. Can’t wait to see him play with and against the real pros.

Hey, by then he’ll even be able to drink legally; Lawrence won’t turn 21 until Oct. 6, 2020.

CARDS CORRAL KINGSBURY

It’s been quite a six weeks for Kliff Kingsbury — fired Nov. 26 as head coach of Texas Tech University, hired Dec. 5 as Southern Cal’s offensive co-ordinator, finally allowed this week by USC to conduct NFL interviews and, by Tuesday late afternoon, he was announced as the new head coach of the NFL’s Arizona Cardinals.

Kingsbury’s two-month ascension from being dropped by a middle-of-the-pack Big 12 team, to chief offensive strategist at a perennial national collegiate power, to head coach of the Cardinals will be regarded as just as puzzling a hire by many.

At Texas Tech the 39-year-old coached both Patrick Mahomes and, before he transferred in a huff to Oklahoma, Baker Mayfield. Kingsbury is seen as a modern-day offensive whiz, despite his 35-40 record over six years in Lubbock. He was Texas A&M’s offensive co-ordinator in 2012 when Johnny Manziel had his brilliant freshman season.

The New York Jets reportedly interviewed Kingsbury earlier Tuesday. In Arizona he succeeds Steve Wilks, who lasted just one year of the job after leading Arizona to the NFL’s worst record, 3-13. Kingsbury will work with Josh Rosen, the fourth of five QBs drafted in the first round last April who struggled as a rookie.

At the end of his own, undistinguished pro quarterbacking career Kingsbury had cups of coffee with two CFL teams in 2007, Montreal and Winnipeg.

ARIANS OFFICIAL

Dominoes are starting to fall fast. The Tampa Bay Buccaneers made it official on Tuesday night by announcing the signing of Bruce Arians.

Reports said Arians had arranged to hire several former loyal assistants from his stint as Cardinals head coach from 2013-17, including recently fired New York Jets head coach Todd Bowles as defensive co-ordinator.

The 66-year-old Arians seemingly retired 12 months ago, following a long, impressive coaching career as a quarterback whisperer of sorts who’d worked with Peyton Manning, Ben Roethlisberger and Andrew Luck early in their careers. He was interim head coach of the Indianapolis Colts for a chunk of the 2012 season, before becoming top coach of the Cards.

Arians is a great fit in Tampa Bay. He’s as likely as anyone to turn failing 2015 No. 1 overall draft pick Jameis Winston into something more than a quarterback-turnover-machine, regardless of how many yards he throws for.

PACKERS’ GUY, LAFLEUR

The Green Bay Packers’ choice of Matt LaFleur — reported since Monday and finally announced by the club late Tuesday evening — is a puzzler, frankly.

He was Tennessee’s offensive co-ordinator for only one season, and it wasn’t an impressive season by any measure. Early on it was a disaster, frankly, when game after they the Titans couldn’t score an offensive touchdown until the fourth quarter, if at all.

But LaFleur, 39, has the hot pedigree-du-jour. He has worked recently under both both San Francisco 49ers head coach Kyle Shanahan (as quarterbacks coach in Washington from 2010-13 and Atlanta from 2015-16) and Los Angeles Rams head coach Sean McVay (as offensive co-ordinator in 2017).

OTHER UPDATES

As of Tuesday night, five of the eight head-coaching vacancies were yet to be filled.

Cleveland’s interview count, meantime, continues to drain calculator batteries. One report said interim Browns offensive co-ordinator Freddie Kitchens “has a good chance” to land the job, but who knows.

None of the New York Jets, Cincinnati Bengals or Miami Dolphins appeared close to filling their head-coach vacancies.

This Week's Flyers

Comments

We encourage all readers to share their views on our articles and blog posts. We are committed to maintaining a lively but civil forum for discussion, so we ask you to avoid personal attacks, and please keep your comments relevant and respectful. If you encounter a comment that is abusive, click the "X" in the upper right corner of the comment box to report spam or abuse. We are using Facebook commenting. Visit our FAQ page for more information.